


don't judge a book by its cover

by bigbenbound



Category: One Direction
Genre: M/M, larcel - Freeform, loucel - Freeform, marcel - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-22
Updated: 2013-07-22
Packaged: 2017-12-21 01:25:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/894149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bigbenbound/pseuds/bigbenbound
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Louis learned within his first year of reading to never judge a book by its cover, or even by its reviews. as a new transfer student to the US, he meets Marcel the supposedly most nerdy kid in the school. Louis knows there is something more than the reputation this kid gets, and he wants to crack him open and read until he knows every line by heart.</p>
            </blockquote>





	don't judge a book by its cover

**Author's Note:**

> before i start, i just wanted to say thanks to my beta for this fic ohyeahtotes (on tumblr) so go follow her:) if anyone wants to make me a banner for this i’ll love you forever:) (my photoshop trial ended and i’m trying to convince my parents to buy it for me) i’ll try to get the next part of this fic up tomorrow for you guys!! love y’all xx

Louis Tomlinson had gone through a transformation.

 

At least that’s what he thought. And his mom had agreed, so that was a good thing right?

 

Probably not, who was he kidding?

 

As he drove himself to the first day at his new school, he couldn’t help but begin to doubt that his mom had possibly been lying to him to make him feel better. After two long years of school in the UK, he had transferred to a boarding school in America. Along with the transfer, he had decided to get rid of all of his striped shirts, colorful trousers, and snappy suspenders in favor of dark shirts, tight dark wash skinny jeans, and a pair of aviators that he wore everywhere.

 

He got a couple stupid tattoos that made it look like he just doodled on his body, when really, each one had a meaning - he just didn’t explain that much to people, not even when they outright asked. He traded in his glasses for contacts as well as buying himself a few snapbacks, and stealing a couple from his best mate Niall, as a keepsake from home. He cut his hair and dyed it a temporary red so he could coif it like all the hot male models that he practically drooled over.

 

He decided that at this school he wouldn’t act like the gay drama kid like he did in Britain. He had no shame regarding his sexuality, but he wasn’t going to play with stereotypes here. He was going to go out for footy, and if anyone asked, he would tell them the truth about his sexuality, but he wasn’t going to blast it everywhere.

 

He parked the blue mini cooper in a parking space next to an audi and an old green pickup truck. He glanced at the map of the school while still in the car then shoved it in his backpack with his schedule before opening the door of his car. Glancing around, he followed the signs that led to the main office where he was supposed to talk to the secretary before going to class.

 

When he opened the small glass door, a small bell tinkled, and the secretary looked up at him smiling.

 

“You must be Mr. Louis Tomlinson?”

 

“Yes ma’am, that’s me,” Louis responded, accent noticeable in comparison to all the Americans walking the hallways and coming in and out of the office.

 

“Nice to meet you, Louis. We’re going to have you shadow a young man that is actually in a majority of your classes so that you can get used to your path and not end up getting lost on your first day here.” She sent him a smile to let him know that she was being genuine and not mocking him.

 

As Louis began to thank her, the door chimed behind him and he turned around to see a dark haired boy with colorful ink splattered on his arms walk in.

 

“Zayn! Fantastic timing. Louis this is Zayn. He will take you around and get you used to the school. Zayn this is Louis, and I’m going to assume that you just heard what I said,” the secretary smiled at both boys. “Louis, as long as you have a copy of a map and your schedule, you don’t need anything else from me unless you have any questions. Feel free to pop in at any point, I’m Mrs. Morgan by the way.”

 

“No, I’m fine, thank you though! Nice to meet you Mrs. Morgan!” Louis responded cheerfully. He then offered a wave and followed Zayn through the door, and around a corner into what seemed to be the main hallway of the school.

 

“So you’re a Brit too huh?” Zayn sent a smile his way. “You can now join the pack! You play any sports man?”

 

“Yeah! I was hoping to join the footy team this year, actually.”

 

“You’re just in luck! My boyfriend Liam and I are captains of the footy team here! Tryouts are in like a week, and we already had the info meeting, but we can fill you in if you want at lunch or something?”

 

“Sounds great, mate!” Louis smiled easily at Zayn, noticing how he had slipped in the part about his boyfriend to see how he reacted, and he wasn’t going to fuck this one up. “I have to ask though, is the food actually good here?”

 

Zayn grinned at the new boy. “That is something you’ll have to decide for yourself newbie.”

 

Before Louis could respond, the warning music began to play, signaling a minute before the bell to start class rang. Louis watched around him as groups of girls laughing about their summers scattered in all different directions as he and Zayn sped up their paces to get to their first class of the day, which, if Lou remembered correctly, was AP Biology. 

He guessed that he did remember correctly when he walked into a classroom that had jars of… something in them and all sorts of diagrams relating to different animals and plants and humans and basically anything that you could imagine there being in a high school biology classroom. Zayn walked him over to the teacher’s desk where he met his teacher Miss Castebob, who told him to sit next to Zayn because that was the only open chair left.

 

As he turned around he caught a pair of eyes on him from huge glasses with thick lenses. They distorted his eyes a bit, but from what Louis could tell, the kid had emerald green eyes. His hair was noticeably slicked back from his face and he had on brown slacks and a sweater vest. For a second Louis had to glance around to make sure he wasn’t missing a school dress code and when he realized that no, that is just what that guy is wearing. He glanced back at the boy in question to see him concentrating intently on his papers in front of him.

 

As Louis took his seat next to Zayn, he whispered a question on who the boy was quietly in his ear.

 

“Oh Sweater Vest? He goes by Marcel.” Louis nodded his head to confirm that he had heard Zayn, but even when class started, he couldn’t keep his mind, and eyes, from wandering back to the green eyed boy. Louis considered going up to introduce himself after class, but when the bell signaling the end of the period rang, the boy bolted out of his seat and practically sprinted out the door.

 

As Louis looked after him, he had the sickening feeling in the pit of his stomach telling him that the boy was trying to get in and out of the hallways before something caught up to him.

○○○

 

As it turned out, Louis did not have any other classes the green-eyed boy, as he was in nearly all AP classes. Louis was smart, but not that smart… and he had chosen a lighter course load this year. 

The next time Louis saw Marcel it was for a brief second as he strolled past him in the hallway. Marcel appeared to be walking to his next class, books in one arm, as he talked to a friend on his left. If he lost the clothes, he could easily be any other kid in this hallway, Louis mused to himself as he looked after him down the hallway. Before he could consider it anymore though, Zayn was at his side, closing his locker, and leading him to the cafeteria. 

The cafeteria was right around the corner from his locker, as Louis was soon to find out. It had a wall of glass windows facing into the courtyard, and, as it was a nice day, sunlight was streaming into the room. Zayn led him to a table towards the middle of the lunch room where he stopped before he sat down to kiss, who Louis presumed was, his boyfriend on the top of his head. 

The boy in question tilted his head back to give the dark haired boy the most endearing smile Louis had ever seen in his life. Zayn returned the smile before facing Louis.

“Everyone, this is Louis. He’s a new kid,” Zayn pulled a mocking face of disgust, “BUT he’s a Brit himself and he wants to try out for the footy team!” The table cheered in response to his words, and Louis felt a smile creep onto his face as he waved to group. 

Zayn sat down next to his boyfriend after that, and waved at the open seat across from him next to a blonde bird with pink tips to her hair. Louis took that as his que to take a seat. The girl smiled at him before introducing herself as Perrie and the girl with brown curly hair next to her as Danielle “but Dani for short”. 

“Louis,” he responded, “but Lou for short.” He smirked. Perrie laughed before turning back to her previous conversation. 

“Hey Louis! I’m Liam!” Louis’s attention was drawn zayn’s boyfriend with a buzz cut that sat across the table from him. He was wearing a red hoodie with a black, possibly leather, jacket over it, but the sleeves were pushed up his arms. The sleeves revealed two tattoos on his forearms that were inked in dark black. He had slight stubble growing over his cheeks and chin, and the very small amount of hair on his head was gelled upwards. He had soft brown eyes, and Louis knew immediately that he could trust this guy… he just had one of those faces. 

“Zayn said that you wanted to try out for the team?” Liam continued. 

“Oh yeah! I played a good amount back in Donnie, but I was never on a school team… I thought it might be a good experience, and help me meet some people if I joined.”

“Good idea, mate. Zaynie over here probably already mentioned that you missed the meeting, but I think I have an extra sheet of info with me actually, and you should be covered with that… We’re always here if you have questions, too!” An easy smile spread across Liam’s face and Louis couldn’t help but feel welcomed by it. 

“That sounds great honestly, I really appreciate it.” Liam nodded before rooting through his bag for the info packet. He handed it over once he found it, and then turned to Zayn who was telling a story next to him. 

The rest of the period passed quickly and before he knew it, Louis was off to his next class with Zayn leading him through the halls. The rest of his classes passed the same as Bio did, but with an absence of green eyes hidden behind wide framed glasses. There were a couple times where he thinks he sees slicked hair in the hallway, but when he does a double take, it wasn’t the boy in question. 

After the final bell of the day rings, Louis heads back to the main office to pick up the key to his dorm room. Mrs. Morgan hands him the piece of metal with a smile, and explains that he would not be sharing a dorm because of the uneven number of students enrolled. He returns her smile, God he had been doing that a lot today, before thanking her and taking his leave. 

It takes a few minutes, and a couple kicks, for him to get into his room – hey the door was stuck, don’t judge – and about an hour for him to throw enough of his stuff in drawers, and on the floor, for it to qualify as “unpacked”. He grinned as he turned on his heel looking at the double room that was just his. Being a new kid definitely had its advantages. He grabbed his bag of toiletries from where he had tossed it on his pillow and padded to the bathroom in his favorite dinosaur claw slippers. 

He turned the water on to hot-as-Hell, stripped of his clothes and jumped into the scorching water. He could nearly feel each individual muscle relax as the water pelted his skin, massaging out all the kinks in his shoulders. Grabbing his shampoo, he washed out a majority of the red dye in his hair, leaving just a bit in the front for his coif and at the tips of his hair. He soaped up the rest of his body quickly before rinsing everything off, shutting the water off, and stepping out into the now steamy bathroom. He toweled off quickly before slipping into a pair of joggers and his slippers, and walking back out of the bathroom. 

His head had barely hit the pillow before Louis started to drift off, green eyes being the last thing he remembered thinking about before his consciousness slipped from his grasp.

**Author's Note:**

> hope you liked it! feedback is always appreciated! 
> 
> also, if you missed it, i will be forever in your debt if you make a banner for this fic! xx


End file.
